Evangelion - Beast Wars
by Marka Ragnos629
Summary: Shinji Ikari is chosen by the Primes of the past to correct the mistakes of a rogue Prime known as Leo Prime. As he is sent back in time to fight alongside the Maximals against the Predacons, how will this effect history? And why is Asuka fighting for the Predacons?
1. Chapter 1

_Another experimental story Idea that came to me awhile ago. I hope you guys enjoy the concept of the idea. See you all at the end!_

_*I still don't own Transformers Beast Wars, and I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion!*_

* * *

_Dialogue Key_

* * *

"Optimus Primal - Maximize!" = Regular Speech

_'Megatron - Terrorize!' = Someone's Thoughts_

**"Energon Field buildup! Quickly! Back to Beast Mode!" = Someone Yelling**

_**"Arise, Rodimus Prime." = Past Primes Speaking**_

* * *

_Beginning of the Beast Wars: Part 1_

* * *

It was late at night in Tokyo-3, and everyone who had done their work during the day was asleep. Resting after a hard day's work so they can do it all again tomorrow. And after the Angel attack that happened that same day, it was a well earned rest and a chance to live without fear for a period of time.

However, one certain individual was not resting very well. Or at all, for that matter.

Shinji Ikari, the Third Child and pilot of Eva Unit 01, lay in his bed wide awake. He was attempting to calm his mind with some classical string music from his SDAT Player, but it's doing nothing to do so.

_'I don't understand. Why do I continue to fight for them, risking my life every single time an Angel attacks for people who'd probably want me dead?'_ he mentally asked himself.

Is it because he wants his father's acceptance and love, like how he once had that from his mother? Possible. After all, every child wants to be loved and accepted by their parents. Even those who go through a rebellious phase and deny it vehemently due to new problems that crop up from their rebellion. And poor, poor Shinji has been starved of true familial love ever since his mother's death.

Sighing as he turned his device off, Shinji rolled over as he tried to fall into a restless sleep. Chances are Asuka is going to be even angrier than usual in the morning if he doesn't prepare breakfast on time. And he doesn't feel like getting more bruises because of that temperamental redhead, and his current guardian, Misato Katsuragi, is certainly no help in that regard.

But as he finally drifted into sleep, young Shinji Ikari had no idea of the vital role that he was about to play.

One that will surely put an end to Gendo, S.E.E.L.E., and their plans for the Third Impact.

* * *

_*In Deep Space, Millions of Years Ago…*_

* * *

In the deep reaches of space, above the planet that shall one day be known as Remnant, all was as peaceful as it's ever been. No meteors threatening to strike the planet and end all life, no shooting stars, not even a Ugandan Knuckles. I am SO GLAD that meme is dead!

But that peace was suddenly broken when the area above the planet's atmosphere began distorting. Almost as if something was breaching through the space/time continuum. With the sounds of laser gun fire, two ships exited through this distortion and began to do battle with each other. One large one, and a smaller one that had a set of backwards facing wings. Both ships were shooting each other, but it was the larger ship that was taking the most damage.

"Hull breach in Sector 7! Guidance systems failing!" exclaimed a voice that sounded like a fifteen year old boy.

The next one to speak was also a male. But his voice was older and sounded like he had a Brooklyn New York accent. And he seemed to be a little whiny. But then, who can blame him? You would be the same if you'd been dragged into a fight for your very life.

"Oh man, dis is ridiculous! We're an exploration ship, not a battle cruiser!" he exclaimed in panic.

"No choice!" grunted a voice that sounded like a true, nobel leader. "Our ship was the only one that could lock on to Megatron's warp signature!"

"Shields are doing a major fade!" warned the young voice.

Seeing no other option but to focus on offense over defense, the leader of the vessel made a tough decision.

"Plasma cannons to full power!"

Aboard the smaller vessel, the crew knew that they had the upper hand on the ones in the larger vessel. And yet, for some reason, the captain of this ship wasn't doing anything to outright destroy the enemy. And one crew member has had enough of it.

"Their shields are down! Destroy them!" urged a rough and gruff voice that sounded like a man in his forties.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" replied a voice that sounded quite sinister. "A little torment, I'd say, first. Yess! Side guns!"

The smaller ship began to accelerate as it moved to fly right next to the bigger ship. And it was at this point that the ship fired all weapons upon the larger vessel. The vast majority of the plasma blasts missed their target, but those that did hit damaged key parts of the ship, and the crew aboard this one knew this.

"Rupture! The stasis hold is failing!" exclaimed the young voice.

A much older and seemingly emotionless voice was the next to speak up.

"We're going down."

The leader didn't like this situation he and his crew have found themselves in. Not only is their ship heavily damaged and falling to the planet below, but the rest of his crew is in danger of possibly being destroyed in the crash. He looked to one of his screens and saw that they have just enough power left for one last assault. He's just fortunate that he made the choice to bring two members of his crew, who were already in Stasis Pods, into the Command Center with the rest of them. But that seems irrelevant now. With a heavy heart, he made the most logical choice for this situation.

"Launch all pods! Get them into safe orbit!"

Their ship began slowly spinning as it ejected human sized pods that all were silver colored and seemed to be made of a metal not found on Remnant. Once the last of the pods had been ejected from the ship, it aligned itself with the enemy and shot a barrage of plasma blasts as a last ditch effort to take the enemy down with them.

"All plasma cannons - FIRE!"

The leader of the enemy ship cried out in surprise and outrage as his ship was hit and a wing was blown off. With this accomplished, both ships found themselves caught in the planet's gravitational pull. Streaking down across the sky, they crashed in two different locations on the planet. As we shift to the larger ship, we see that it has crashed in a clearing full of waterfalls and some lush greenery. But mostly stone croppings.

"Ugh… damage report!" ordered the leader.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." said the teenager.

The leader sighed before saying "That's what I thought."

* * *

In the heart of a dormant or dying volcano, we find the other ship has crashed here. For this faction, it looks like they can adapt geothermal energy to their own equipment.

"Navigation! Is this the right planet?" asked the sinister leader.

"Unknown. Course settings we're accurate, but readings are inconsistent with those expected for intended destination." replied a female computerized voice.

"Nevermind that! Tell me there is Energon here!" the leader demanded.

"Confirmed."

"Yes! The planet has Energon!"

"Too much Energon. Field readings are off the scale. Continued exposure to robotic forms will result in permanent damage." the computer informed using a series of holograms for visual aid.

The leader of this faction slammed his fist down in a small fit of rage. He had not anticipated the Energon fields being this high, and now they can't even harvest the stuff without risk of death! But he calmed down as he got an idea. An awful idea. This guy got a wonderful, awful idea.

"Then we will create alternate forms based on the most powerful local creatures!" he declared. "This is also an opportune moment for us to reprogram the Maximal Protoforms we stole into a Predacon. Yesss!"

"Scanners activated!" cackled a creepy male voice.

The ship then launched a probe into the air which released wide purple energy beams as it slowly spun in a circle. As it did, these beams of light seemed to scan the fossilized skeletons of a Velociraptor, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a Pteranodon. This data on the extinct creatures was then uploaded into the central computer of this odd ship. Next up to be scanned were a wasp and a tarantula that were about to fight it out to see who would become who's dinner. Finally, a Fire Ant warrior caste was scanned.

* * *

Back at the other ship, a similar beam of light was being sent out from a set of radio antennae on the top of where the command deck would be. But these beams were more of an orangey yellow coloration. The creatures that got scanned this time were all mammalian. Namely, the creatures included a pair of cheetahs, a rat, a rhinoceros, and a silverback gorilla. Oh, and the last one to be scanned was a Black Widow Spider. Once scanning was complete, the lights shut off.

"Scanning and replication of local life forms complete. You may emerge." said the monotone voice.

"ROWR! Hey, look at me, I'm a Cheetah! No… no - I'm Cheetor!" exclaimed a now talking Cheetah.

"Hmm. Interesting." said the leader as he waited for his beast mode to finish replicating.

"Interesting?" Cheetor asked incredulously. "ROWR! Optimus, the word is spot on smooth!"

The young techno organic purred as he looked at himself in the reflective surface of one of the machines on the ship. A small sense of vanity that comes with the feline form began to come into play as Cheetor admired his new looks.

"It's a crime." he said with a laugh.

Emerging from behind another machine was a very large rat that, when standing on its hind legs, was tall enough to look Cheetor in the eye. This rat gave a so-so motion with one of his front paws as he commented on Cheetor's looks.

"Eh, a bit tacky. Ya never had taste, did ya, kid." the rat said in that same New Yorker accent that we heard during the battle. "Now, dis! Dis is what class is all about! Call me… Rattrap."

"Oh yeah? How's about I cut mices to pieces?" Cheetor challenged, peeved that the rat would call his fur coat tacky.

And he would have pounced on the rat too, had his salvation not come in the form of a brown rhinoceros with two golden orange horns.

"Ease back, Cheetor." he said in the same monotone voice we heard before. "Living large is for forms like me… Rhinox."

"Oh, but if you're talking about living the high life…" said a female voice from up above.

The other three animals looked up to see a giant Black Widow Spider that has the trademark black body with a red hourglass mark, but also has right golden yellow legs, clinging to the ceiling. Doing what spiders do. Besides keeping the insect population low.

"...Then maybe you should look to forms like me: Blackarachnia." she quipped.

"Yeah! And just consider yerself lucky I didn't get rough on ya's!" Rattrap said to Cheetor. as he struck a fisticuffs pose.

That's when the machine that held Optimus opened up to reveal a silverback gorilla. One that is obviously Optimus in his Beast Mode for protection. And lucky for us, he's here to play the mediator for these machine people.

"Moderate your conflict circuits, Maximals! Remember, these new Beast forms are to protect us from the long term effects of the Energon fields out there!" Optimus ordered. "We may need Energon for power, but this is too much of a good thing."

As Optimus began walking to the main computer console of the ship, he began to explain the severity of their situation and how it's not exactly the best of situations for anyone here.

"Our robot modes will start to short out after a few minutes' is one unusual planet. Whatever it is."

As the other Maximals began to absorb this information, Rhinox spoke up and got everyone's attention.

"Or WHENEVER. The Transwarp Drive can go through space and time. We were locked on to Megatron's warp signature. We could be anyplace; any time."

"Yes. And our crew is orbiting the planet in those Stasis Pods we lost in battle, while one of us seems to remain in stasis." Optimus said grimly. "They're protected from the Energon fields, but… it means that Megatron has us outnumbered because of those two Protoforms he and the Predacons stole!"

* * *

Back at the volcanic region, Megatron's troops are out and about in their Beast modes in an attempt to get used to these forms and the biological differences from their robotic forms. One of these troops in particular, a Velociraptor with dual-tone brown skin in a stripe pattern, growled as he observed his surroundings with a golden disc held in his claws.

"No, no, NO! It's all wrong! This cannot be Earth!" he growled.

He turned back to the entrance of the ship with anger clear in his eyes.

"Megatron! You failed! Not only did you fail to destroy the Maximals when you had the chance, you failed to bring us to the right planet! We stole the Golden Disc for nothing! You IDIOT!"

He threw the disc into the shadows of the entrance with a resounding clatter, drawing a slightly peeved sound from the one speaking now. It's Megatron! And as he stepped out of the shadows, he revealed his Beast form to be a purple Tyrannosaurus Rex with a green stripe along his back and a pale purple underbelly.

"I beg your pardon? What did you call me?" Megatron asked.

His tone seemed calm, but underneath that, one could easily tell that it said 'choose your next words carefully if you value your life'. Not that this raptor heeded this warning.

"You heard! You are an idiot and an incompetent leader, and I am taking over!"

He growled as he then did something that no one in this world would have expected. He began to transform!

"Dinobot - TERRORIZE!"

The now named Dinobot roared as his body rapidly shifted into a more humanoid state with his raptor traits still being clearly visible all along his body! His robot mode was impressive: his raptor legs became his arms, the head of the raptor became his chest-plate, and the rest of him seemed exoskeletal. His helmet head was brown but his faceplate was blue and looked like someone in their forties and he had red piercing eyes and razor sharp teeth. He activates his Rotary Blade ominously as well as his sword with his claw-like hands.

He took up a battle stance as he glared at his leader with contempt and challenge. And speaking of challenges…

"I challenge you to battle, Megatron! The winner shall lead the Predacons, and the loser shall be destroyed!" Dinobot exclaimed.

But Megatron wasn't fazed. He simply sighed and began to turn back to the entrance of the ship with a calm and collected demeanor.

"You're so impulsive, Dinobot. Brave, but misguided." Megatron said.

"Do you accept my challenge!?" demanded Dinobot.

Megatron simply laughed and continued to walk slowly. If one observed closely enough, you can tell that the scalebelly is up to something.

"There's more to being a leader than simple courage. Why there is cleverness, and cunning as well. Isn't that right - Scorponok?"

Megatron moved out of the way to reveal that his second in command, Scorponok, had just finished transforming from Beast to Robot mode, and he was primed for battle.

His robot mode is humanoid with most of his body covered in scorpion shell like armor. His stomach is formed from his eight red arachnid legs. His head has only one yellow eye and his lower jaw looks like mandibles fused together. His scorpion tail is right behind him and his front pincers are his lower arms and hands.

Dinobot found himself stunned and unable to react in time as Scorponok shot him with two of his missiles at the same time. The force and propulsion of which sent the velociraptor Predacon flying out over the horizon until he couldn't be seen anymore. Megatron smirked and scoffed as he saw the results of what couldn't even be called a tussel.

"Loser." he quipped as he walked out of the ship. "What does it matter which planet we're on? We came looking for Energon and this planet is rich with the element. Enough Energon to power the Predacons' entire galactic conquest!"

Megatron's mood suddenly soured as he remembered one critical detail that could send his whole self-appointed mission spiraling downhill.

"Only the Maximals could give us trouble now… IF they survived the crash."

He turned to his fellow Predacons, who had gathered while Scorponok returned to Beast mode, and gave out critical instructions for them.

"Find them! And if you find them - destroy them!"

Having their orders, the Predacons scattered in different directions to search for the Maximals. Two of them taking to the air while the others began to search from the ground. They all have only one objective in mind. Find the Maximals at any cost, and bring them back to Megatron. Dead or alive! Mostly dead!

* * *

_*To Be Continued…*_

* * *

_Thank you guys so much for reading. A poll has been posted for Shinji's Beast Mode, so please remember to cast your votes on that._

_May the Force be with you, and have a great day, my Jedi and Sith friends._


	2. Chapter 2

_*I still don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion, and I don't own Transformers Beast Wars!*_

* * *

_Dialogue Key_

* * *

"Optimus Primal - Maximize!" = Regular Speech

_'Megatron - Terrorize!' = Someone's Thoughts_

**"Energon Field buildup! Quickly! Back to Beast Mode!" = Someone Yelling**

_**"Arise, Rodimus Prime." = Past Primes Speaking**_

* * *

_Beginning of the Beast Wars: Part 2_

* * *

Back at the Maximal Ship, the Axalon, our ragtag group of heroes was hard at work salvaging whatever they can from the wreckage. Even broken technology can be recycled into new devices to suit their needs on this planet. Taking the loading elevator down to the ground, Rattrap grunted as he dropped a large (compared to him) chunk of scrap metal to the ground. And boy, is he unhappy about all of this.

"Man, all dis fer a golden disk." he complained.

"It was Cybertron's most carefully guarded relic, Rattrap. It gave the location of a massive Energon source. That's why Megatron stole it." Optimus explained as he scanned the perimeter using his Optic Scanners.

"Yeah, like I care." grumbled Rattrap. "Ya know, we were s'posed ta be doin' deep space exploration. Playing Galactic Patrol was nowhere in my job description, ya know what I'm sayin'. You sure yer cut out fer dis commander gig?"

Optimus sighed at his fellow Maximal's pessimistic nature, and his smart aleck responses. It's these things that really make being a leader harder than it needs to be.

"Remember the Great War, Rattrap. If the Predacons get enough Energon, they'll start it again. We can't let that happen." Optimus said seriously before he tried to get his friend to look on the bright side of the situation. "Besides, you wanted exploration, and here we are on an unknown planet. What more do you want?"

"Well, uh, call me picky, but a WORKIN' SPACECRAFT might be nice." Rattrap replied, ever the negative one.

"Just no pleasing some people." sighed Optimus.

It was at that moment that Blackarachnia and Cheetor made their way out of the base. Both of them looked kind of worried. And it was for a very good reason, besides the presence of the Predacons. And Optimus seemed to instantly know what it was about.

"How's our sleeping rookie?" he asked.

"He's not doing so good, Big Bot." Cheetor replied.

"Turns out his Stasis Pod was damaged in the crash. That's one reason why the scanners were unable to download a Beast Mode into his central computer. And if we don't find a Beast Mode for him in about four Earth hours, the Energon fields will put his Spark out. For good." Blackarachnia reported.

"Blackarachnia, I want you to stay here and keep working on the rookie's pod. See if you can repair the damage so the scanners can do their job. Cheetor, you stay here with us and help keep a look out for any Predacon activity." Optimus instructed.

Both Maximals nodded and went to do their jobs. Well, more like Blackarachnia went to do her job while Cheetor just stayed outside. Still, as the feline Maximal was scouting out, he noticed something.

"Hey, check it!"

Optimus, Rattrap, and Rhinox followed the young Maximal's line of sight and noticed what he saw. Two cheetahs running across the savannah as they searched for prey. And Optimus had to admit, he was kind of jealous of the cheetah's natural speed. Then again, Cheetor was also well known for his own speed back on Cybertron. So it seems fitting that he choose a form that's as much a speed demon as he is.

"They're fast alright. You chose a good form." he said to Cheetor.

"Hey, you think that's speed? You ain't seen the Golden Rocket! Check this!"

That was the only warning the Maximals got before Cheetor booked it from zero to sixty in three seconds flat.

"Cheetor, no!" exclaimed Optimus.

But Cheetor wasn't listening. He was already halfway over the stone bridge that connects their base to the other side of the ravine. The Maximal growled like the big cat he is as he sped across the stone ground to the open savannah.

"Cheetor! Return to base immediately! We don't have time for this!" Optimus ordered as he activated his comm link. "Cheetor? Please respond!"

But on Cheetor's side, all he could hear was static. So he paid Optimus's orders no mind and just kept running, ready and willing to embrace the speed of the new form that was gifted to him. Hey, he may be a part of a Maximal exploration crew, but he's still an adolescent by Cybertronian standards. And as such, he is prone to rebellious behavior.

"No good. The Energon fields mess up the comm links. Anything over a hundred meters: they ain't worth scrap." Rhinox said.

"Well, that's just prime." groaned Optimus.

"So, uh, dis is yer first day on da job, or what?" Rattrap asked, slightly mocking his leader.

"Shut up, Rattrap." Optimus ordered, not having the patience to deal with the rat right now.

"Oh, yes sir!" Rattrap quipped with a mocking salute. "Ya know, I feel just heaps better knowin' dat our lives are in yer capable hands. ...We're all gonna die."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cheetor seems to have caught up with the two Earth cheetahs. He growls as he tries to make small talk with his fellow big cats, unaware of how animals can sense the difference between the natural and the unnatural.

"The name's Cheetor. What's shakin', cats?"

The two Earth cheetahs roared at him in response, their irises shrinking to the size of pinpricks as they ran faster to get away from the Cybertronian. This caused Cheetor to skid to a stop as he doesn't know why they ran.

"What? I-Is it my breath?" he asked. "Hey, wait!"

He quickly recovered from his shock and ran after his fellow felines again. With his speed, it won't take him long to reach the two cheetahs. However, the organic beings ahead of him stopped as a giant green wasp with black and yellow stripes flew into the area, buzzing as it hovered above a tree with its stinger poised to strike.

The two cats growled as they sped off from the giant insect while Cheetor simply slowed to a stop, not understanding why they were running from an insect.

"Hey, hey, what? It's just a big bug."

Cheetor looked up to stare at the giant wasp, confusion etched onto his feline face.

"The way those two reacted, that's no natural life form. And if we're talking unnatural life forms then we gotta be talking about one thing: Robots In Disguise! Cheetor - Maximize!"

Leaping into the air, Cheetor roared as he transformed from beast to robot mode. When he landed, it revealed that his robot mode looks like a humanoid robot with all blue and yellowish gold. The cheetah head has become a breastplate and the two front legs are crossed on his back. His faceplate is blue while his armored head is yellowish gold. And just like his voice proves, his face is like that of a teenager. Held in his hand is a rifle that is his weapon.

"Time for this cat to pounce!"

Cheetor opened fire on the giant bug, but to his surprise it was easily dodging every blast as it buzzed about. Then the giant insect began to speak.

"Wazzpinator under attack! Wazzpinator engage enemy! Wazzpinator - Terrorizzzzzze!"

Remaining in the air, Waspinator also transformed into his robot mode. His own contains many more elements from his beast mode, including compound eyes, antennae, mandibles, his wings, and even the stinging abdomen of the wasp that is his beast mode. The wasp's head has become a breastplate while the legs have relocated to the outer edges of his forearms.

Waspinator opened fire using his stinger missile launcher with the intent of destroying the younger Maximal that opened fire on him. Luckily for Cheetor, he got over his shock as quick as a feline and got out of the way before proceeding to return fire. And back at the base, Optimus, Rhinox, and Rattrap could see the explosions. And those explosions are the one thing Rattrap was hoping not to see.

"Ah oh." yelped Rattrap.

The smaller Maximal was quickly hoisted up by the scruff of his neck as Optimus rode along on Rhinox's back. Kind of like Donkey Kong.

"Move! Move!" urged Optimus.

Back at the battle, Cheetor roled along the ground as he avoided blasts from both Waspinator's stinger gun and his optic laser beams. He took aim at the insect Predacon once again and fired a few more rounds. But his Predacon adversary was much more nimble in the air than he appeared to be, and he easily avoided every single blast. However, he wasn't having much luck hitting Cheetor either.

Pretty soon, Cheetor was forced to beat feet as he ran away in a form of strategic retreat. But the Predacon was still hot on his trail.

Meanwhile, Rhinox was running full speed towards the direction of the battle. However, it wasn't long before he encountered an obstacle of his own. A wall of fallen rocks that would surely make anything that rammed into it go splat.

"'Ey, heads up! Roadblock!" cried Rattrap.

"Veer left! There's a clearing about a hundred meters!" Optimus ordered.

But Rhinox wasn't listening. He was planning to ram into the stone wall. Optimus and Rattrap could only close their eyes and brace for the inevitable splat. But instead of going splat against the rocks like they thought they would, Rhinox gave a mighty roar as he bashed right through the rock wall.

Optimus and Rattrap opened their eyes and sighed in relief.

"Ah, yes. Silly me." sighed Optimus.

He'd completely forgotten that Rhinox scanned a beast mode that's built like a tank. So plowing through a rock wall was mere child's play in comparison to other things.

And Cheetor was still on the run from Waspinator's relentless attacks. The bug just wouldn't buzz off and leave Cheetor alone as he continued to shoot optic lasers and stinger missiles. The young Maximal jumped over a small hill and took cover behind some rocks. He would have fired back, but his weapon ended up jammed midway through the battle.

"ROWR! Of all the times for a Quasar jam!" growled Cheetor as he tried to unjam his weapon.

"Cheetor!" shouted Optimus as he got the young Maximal's attention. "Get to cover! We'll swat that pesky Predacon!"

Unfortunately, the voice of a certain warlord in the making caught the attention of all Maximals. They looked to the opposite hill to see Megatron and the rest of his Predacons standing ready for combat.

"Oh, I would not count on that, Maximals. Nooo." Megatron said with a laugh. "For I believe that you are soon to have, how shall I put it: difficulties of your own. Yesss."

* * *

Both factions of Predacon and Maximal stared each other down, even as Blackarachnia joined her fellow Maximal's on the field of battle, hatred practically oozing from both sides. It's common knowledge that, instinctively, Predacons can't stand Maximals. And vice versa. Of course, the Maximals have tried to maintain the fragile peace for centuries, even though it seems like war will soon break out.

"We don't have to do this, Megatron. There has been peace between the Maximals and Predacons for centuries. Why start this up again?" Optimus asked the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"Peace, perhaps on your side, Maximal scum, yeeesss. But not on ours. Permit me to inform you that an enemy which appears to be 'peaceful' may, in fact, be merely biding its time." Megatron explained.

And while this was going on, Cheetor was still attempting to get his blaster unjammed. After a few more tries, he finally heard the sound of it reloading.

"Finally!" he growled.

"We Predacons have never abandoned our rightful goal of galactic conquest! Nooo. We have merely been waiting for the right moment… to strike!" Megatron declared.

"You mean like this?"

Cheetor fired a shot from his plasma blaster at Megatron and managed to nail a direct hit to the Predacon's lower jaw. A feat that both impressed Optimus, and put him on edge.

"Cheetor!" exclaimed Optimus.

He'd been hoping to resolve this without violence, but it looks like that plan's been thrown out the window. And yet, Megatron doesn't seem unhappy. If anything, he's impressed by Cheetor's initiative.

"Ah, a treacherous, underhanded sneak attack! Oh ho ho! I like you, Pussycat. Yesss." chuckled Megatron before he turned serious. "But it shall avail you not! No! For now, the power gauntlet has been cast! **Predacons - Terrorize!"**

"Do it! Maximize!" Optimus ordered with a war cry.

"Tarantulas - Terrorize!"

The purple and yellow tarantula cackled insanely as his body shifted into its robotic form. It still has many spider traits and has a purple and green color scheme. The front of the spider forms his torso while the back half becomes armor plating to protect from rear attacks. He has a pair of pincers instead of hands, and the legs of his spider form relocate to his arms.

"Rhinox - Maximize!"

His robot form is a hulking green humanoid robot. The head had split horizontally and the lower jaw became the robot's chest plate. The two front hooves changed into his arms each showing a hand with four fingers. The back hooves turned into his legs, the upper legs were covered by the rhino's hide making a lower torso guard, and the lower legs each had six little spikes to where the side calves were and had a robotic toe sticking between the two front hooves. His face looked human, and he had a bronze yellow jaw. His eyes were red, but seemed to show gentleness.

"Scorponok - Terrorize!"

Scorponok roared and clicked his claws as he shifted to his own robotic mode. Which I will not describe a second time. Especially since it's not nearly as iconic as he undoubtedly diluded himself to believe.

"Blackarachnia - Maximize!"

Blackarachnia also cackled as she transformed to a robot mode similar to Tarantulas, only much, much, much more appealing to look at. Her body was mostly black with gold on her lower legs, upper arms, chest, and face, while her spider legs relocated themselves to the outer edges of her arms. Like Tarantulas, she too has a pair of sharp pincers for hands, only hers are primarily black with golden stripes. Being a femme, or female Cybertronian, she has an hourglass figure that would surely turn the heads of many a mech on Cybertron. Her eyes are completely black, giving the impression of being empty eye sockets.

"Terrorsaur - Terrorize!"

Screeching as he did a flip in the air, the Pterodactyl transformed into a red and silver humanoid with the Pterodactyl's crest on his head. As he landed, he drew a blaster from somewhere.

"Rattrap - Maximize!"

Making a series of clicking noises, Rattrap transformed into his robot mode. His robot form is a a silver and bronze humanoid robot that is around the same height as the average human man. The rat's head became the chest plate. His head is completely bronze except for the top of his head which is silver and looks like a brain. The rest of the rat's form is on his back tightly packed. His eyes were bright red and when he opens his mouth, you can see two buck teeth.

"Inferno - Terrorize!"

Inferno growled as his body shifted from a fire ant to a humanoid robot that, like Tarantulas, Scorponok, and Waspinator, has kept many of his insect features. The ant's abdoment has opened up into a four finned turbine that is used for flight, and he has red compound eyes along with a mouth full of sharp teeth. He pulled out a flamethrower that is his weapon of choice. Quite ironic when one considers his beast mode, is it not?

"Megatron - Terrorize!"

Roaring as his body shifted to his robot mode, Megatron transformed just like everyone else. His robot mode is a giant purple and gray humanoid, bigger than Rhinox. The T-Rex head has become his right hand and the tail has become a lance of sort, being held by a four fingered hand. The legs of his dinosaur form have become the lower legs with a metallic black heel balancing them. The two parts of the T-Rex's chest have split and are mounted on his back. His chest looks high tech. His head is a metallic gray while his faceplate is purple with two red eyes glowing with evil.

"Optimus - Maximize!"

Optimus roared like an ape as he went through his transformation from beast to robot mode. His robot form is a gray, white, and red robot. The ape's head folded inward to reveal a metallic chest. The upper arms of the ape folded up to create shoulder armor showing a metallic structure, while the lower arms remained the same except for the fact that there are mounted arm canons on each arm. The lower torso did a 180-degree turn to reveal robotic features on the legs. The robot's head is gray while the robot's face plate was dark gray; however, he has a white mouth guard that opens up to show his mouth. He has red eyes that show fierceness but compassion.

A tense silence hung in the air as the Predacons and Maximals mentally prepared themselves for what is sure to be but the first of many battles between the two factions. One side fighting to conquer the galaxy, the other fighting to defend it. Finally, the silence was broken as Megatron gave the order.

"**Now, obliterate them!"**

With the order given, the Predacons opened fire on the Maximals across from them. Rhinox and Rattrap immediately ducked for cover as they returned fire. Only Optimus and Blackarachnia remained out in the open, even though they were staying close to a large cropping of rocks that would serve as adequate cover for them.

Every Predacon used their signature weapons to reign down hell upon the Maximals. Tarantulas fired a hail of bullets from the tips of his spider legs, which apparently concealed guns in them, while Megatron fired laser blasts from the mouth of the T-Rex head on his right arm. It wasn't long before Optimus and Blackarachnia were forced to take cover, lest they get blown to scrap by the hail of blaster fire.

While the Predacons were busy, Cheetor tried to crawl to his fellow Maximals. Unfortunately, he was stopped and sent flying back to where he started by a stray missile blast. Courtesy of Scorponok.

Cheetor tried to shake off the dizzy feeling from the landing, but it only went away once he felt his leg get pinned between two rocks. Growling, the young Maximal tried to free himself with no success.

"GROWR! I'm… I'm stuck!" he cried to his fellow Maximals.

"Rattrap, help Cheetor! We'll cover you!" Optimus shouted over the blaster fire.

But a plasma shot against the rocks that Rattrap and Rhinox were hiding behind only served to futher bring to the surface the smaller Maximal's cowardly nature.

"Yeah, right!"

"That's an order, Rattrap!" snapped Optimus.

But Rattrap was having none of it. In his mind, he shouldn't have to get scrapped just because he got drafted into a fight he wanted no part in. Besides, to him, it's Cheetor's own fault for getting into this mess with the Predacons anyway.

"Yeah? And you can kiss my skidplate, Fearless Leader! 'Cause I ain't goin' out dere and gettin' my pelt punctured!"

"**OH, FOR ONCE IN YOUR STINKIN' LIFE, JUST SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND DO WHAT OPTIMUS SAYS!"** screeched Blackarachnia, her patience with the rat all but gone.

But rather than let things escalate any further, Optimus just growled and stood up as he activated the jet boosters he has in his back and took flight. He flew straight up and dived down to where Cheetor was pinned, all the while grunting from the force of the plasma blasts that struck a little too close for comfort.

Cheetor kept growling as he tried to free himself, but without his blaster or enough leverage to turn around and push the rock off his leg, he's going nowhere quick.

And unfortunately for Optimus, Megatron shot a laser blast at him and scored a direct hit in his left rocket booster, damaging Optimus and making him fall faster due to lack of control.

"Optimus!" cried Rhinox.

"No!" Blackarachnia exclaimed soon after.

But Rattrap just gave a laugh at his leader's misfortune.

"See? Told ya!"

Luckily for Optimus, he managed to right himself just in time to land on his feet. Using his arm cannon, he shot the rock pinning Cheetor's leg to pieces, freeing the young Maximal. He extended his hand to help Cheetor up, for which the adolescent Maximal was grateful for. He always knows that he can count on his father figure to help him out in a pinch.

"**DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!"** bellowed Megatron.

The Predacons intensified the ferocity of their attacks in an effort to destroy the Maximals before the could attempt to escape. Fortunately, Blackarachnia managed to get to where Rhinox and Rattrap were hiding and picked up Cheetor's lost blaster. Rhinox himself picked up Rattrap by the scruff of his neck, much to the ire of the rodent Cybertronian.

"'Ey! Lemme down, ya big bulldozer!" Rattrap demanded.

But a few simple words from the normally patient and gentle rhinocerous was enough to get the rat motiviated.

"Cover fire. They need it, we give it! Now!"

The three Maximals rose up from behind their cover and unleashed a hail of plasma blasts of their own at the Predacons, with Rattrap screaming a war cry as he shot at them. Most of their blasts were misses, but one of them managed to get a lucky shot and hit Megatron in the chest. Two other blasts also sent Tarantulas and Scorponok ducking for cover.

"Back to the base! Let's go, let's go!" ordered Optimus.

And his fellow Maximals were quick to follow that order. They shot a few more plasma blasts for good measure before turning around and beating feet to catch up with Optimus and Cheetor.

"**After them! Go, you - ARRGGH! GUAAHHAAH!"**

But as Megatron tried to order his soldiers to give chase, his body suddenly started crackling and pulsing with a bright blue energy. This same energy surge happened to the rest of the Predacons, and sent the flyers crashing down to the ground totally immobilized.

"Wazzpin… ator… cannot… mooovvveee…!" Waspinator struggled to say.

"Ener...gon… field buildup! C...Convert… back… to Beast Mode!" Megatron struggled to say.

Fortunately for the Predacons, they were able to transform back to their beast forms and recover from the damaging effects of the Energon fields. And something tells me they're not quite done with their Maximal advarsaries just yet.

* * *

Later that day, Optimus and Rattrap are once again on Rhinox's back as the Maximals made their way back to the remains of their ship. Blackarachnia walked next to Rhinox, having finished giving her report about the Protoform on their ship. Good thing the scanners are still up and running, so their friend should have a Beast Mode by the time they get back to the ship. And that's news Optimus was glad to hear.

But the walk back to the base was silent and sullen as tension began to rise among certain members of the ragtag crew of Maximals. Optimus growled as he lost much of his patience with a certain rat on his team.

Speaking of whom…

"Hey! Hey, what's got your servos so bent?" Rattrap demanded rudely.

"Let's get one thing straight, Rattrap! I am commander of this group, and when I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed!" snapped Optimus.

"Oh yeah? So I get vapped because you're too chicken to go yerself!" Rattrap sassed.

But the gorilla was in no mood for any of Rattrap's usual attitude.

"I WILL NOT GIVE AN ORDER I WOULD NOT BE WILLING TO DO MYSELF! But I was capable of giving you better cover fire. You were not."

Optimus tossed Rattrap back onto his back, and the rat was at a loss for words. Sure, he puts up a fuss and can be quite pessimistic. He's not going to deny that. But he's still not going to let one little incident break up the trust and bonds that hold the team together.

"Come on! What're ya shortin' about? We got outta dere alive, didn't we?"

"But injured. It will take time for our Beast forms to effect internal repairs." Optimus replied tiredly.

"Yeah, well… better you than me." Rattrap said simply.

This caused Blackarachnia to roll her eyes at the rat's attitude. Quite frankly, she can never get used to how cowardly and pessimistic Rattrap can be. It grates on her nerves worse than Tarantulas's flirting back on Cybertron. Just because they're both spiders doesn't mean they're Spark Mate material. And besides that, Blackarachnia already has a bonded mech. They just have yet to be reunited.

"I think we gave them the fade, Optimus." Cheetor said as he slowed to a walk next to Rhinox.

"Keep your sensors on full. According to the Golden Disk theft reports, there were six Predacons. One of them was missing from the battle." Optimus ordered while explaining the situation. "That fire ant, Inferno, was likely one of the two Maximal Protoforms that Megatron stole before he and his crew fled from Cybertron."

"Yeah, well, uh, maybe it was destroyed in the crash?" Rattrap suggested.

"That kinda luck, we haven't been getting much of lately." Rhinox said in his usual near emotionless tone.

"Tell me about it. Look!"

The other Maximals looked to where Cheetor was looking and saw the one thing they were hoping not to encounter.

Dinobot: the Predacon that was missing from the battle. He was standing in the middle of the bridge that leads to the Maximal base, ready for something. Almost like he had been expecting them to arrive. Optimus and Rattrap got off of Rhinox's back as the Maximal leader walked onto the bridge.

"Should we blast him?" Rhinox asked.

"Keep that option open, but hang on." Optimus replied.

Finally, the Predacon spoke.

"Attention Maximals! My name is Dinobot. I have left the Predacons to join your group… as leader."

"WHAT? Did I hear the word 'leader'!?" gasped Cheetor.

"This guy's got bearings of chrome steel!" Rhinox commented, impressed by Dinobot's boldness to challenged Optimus for role of leadership.

And both Rattrap and Blackarachnia nodded their heads in agreement.

"I hereby challenge you, Optimus Primal, to a one on one battle! The winner shall lead the Maximals, and the loser… shall be destroyed!"

* * *

_*To Be Continued…*_

* * *

_Poll Question: Which of these animals do you want Shinji to have as his Beast Mode in Evangelion - Beast Wars?_

_Smilodon (Sabertooth Tiger): 3 votes_

_Triceratops: 1 vote_

_Tyrannosaurus Rex (Different colors from Megatron): 1 vote_

_Panda Bear: 0 votes_

_Wolf: 0 votes_

_Lion: 0 votes_

_Velociraptor: NEW CHOICE!_

* * *

_Thank you guys so much for reading. Please don't forget to cast your votes on the poll I have up on my profile. A beast mode for Shinji will be chosen soon._

_May the Force be with you, and have a great day, my Jedi and Sith friends._


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